Walmart Inc. ( /ˈwɔːlmɑːrt/; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores from the United States, headquartered in Bentonville, Arkansas.[10] The company was founded by Sam Walton in nearby Rogers, Arkansas in 1962 and incorporated under Delaware General Corporation Law on October 31, 1969. It also owns and operates Sam’s Club retail warehouses.[11][12]
As of October 31, 2022, Walmart has 10,586 stores and clubs in 24 countries, operating under 46 different names.[2][3][4] The company operates under the name Walmart in the United States and Canada, as Walmart de México y Centroamérica in Mexico and Central America, and as Flipkart Wholesale in India. It has wholly owned operations in Chile, Canada, and South Africa. Since August 2018, Walmart held only a minority stake in Walmart Brasil, which was renamed Grupo Big in August 2019, with 20 percent of the company’s shares, and private equity firm Advent International holding 80 percent ownership of the company. They eventually divested their shareholdings in Grupo Big to French retailer Carrefour, in transaction worth R$7 billion and completed on June 7, 2022.[13]
Walmart is the world’s largest company by revenue, with about US$570 billion in annual revenue, according to the Fortune Global 500 list in May 2022. It is also the largest private employer in the world with 2.2 million employees. It is a publicly traded family-owned business, as the company is controlled by the Walton family. Sam Walton’s heirs own over 50 percent of Walmart through both their holding company Walton Enterprises and their individual holdings.[14] Walmart was the largest United States grocery retailer in 2019, and 65 percent of Walmart’s US$510.329 billion sales came from U.S. operations.[15][16]
Walmart was listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 1972. By 1988, it was the most profitable retailer in the U.S.,[17] and it had become the largest in terms of revenue by October 1989.[18] The company was originally geographically limited to the South and lower Midwest, but it had stores from coast to coast by the early 1990s. Sam’s Club opened in New Jersey in November 1989, and the first California outlet opened in Lancaster, in July 1990. A Walmart in York, Pennsylvania, opened in October 1990, the first main store in the Northeast.[19]
Walmart’s investments outside the U.S. have seen mixed results. Its operations and subsidiaries in Canada,[20] the United Kingdom (ASDA),[21] Central America, South America, and China are successful, but its ventures failed in Germany, Japan, and South Korea.[22][23][24]
Walmart International
As of October 31, 2022, Walmart’s international operations comprised 5,266 stores[2][3] and 800,000 workers in 23 countries outside the United States.[238] There are wholly owned operations in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, and the UK. With 2.2 million employees worldwide, the company is the largest private employer in the U.S. and Mexico, and one of the largest in Canada.[8] In fiscal 2019 Walmart’s international division sales were US$120.824 billion, or 23.7 percent of total sales.[15][16] International retail units range from 1,400 to 186,000 square feet (130 to 17,280 square meters), while wholesale units range from 24,000 to 158,000 square feet (2,200 to 14,700 square meters).[4] Judith McKenna is the president and CEO of Walmart International .[239][146]
Central America
Walmart also owns 51 percent of the Central American Retail Holding Company (CARHCO), which, as of October 31, 2022, consists of 868 stores, including 263 stores in Guatemala (under the Paiz [27 locations], Walmart Supercenter [10 locations], Despensa Familiar [181 locations], and Maxi Dispensa [45 locations] banners),[2][3] 102 stores in El Salvador (under the Despensa Familiar [63 locations], La Despensa de Don Juan [17 locations], Walmart Supercenter [6 locations], and Maxi Despensa [16 locations] banners),[2][3] 111 stores in Honduras (including the Paiz [8 locations], Walmart Supercenter [4 locations], Dispensa Familiar [71 locations], and Maxi Despensa [28 locations] banners),[2][3] 102 stores in Nicaragua (including the Pali [71 locations], La Unión [9 locations], Maxi Pali [20 locations], and Walmart Supercenter [2 locations] banners),[2][3] and 290 stores in Costa Rica (including the Maxi Pali [49 locations], Mas X Menos [38 locations], Walmart Supercenter [14 locations], and Pali [189 locations] banners[2][3]).[240]
Chile
Main article: Líder
In January 2009, the company acquired a controlling interest in the largest grocer in Chile, Distribución y Servicio D&S SA.[241][242] In 2010, the company was renamed Walmart Chile.[243] As of October 31, 2022, Walmart Chile operates 384 stores under the banners Lider Hiper (97 locations), Lider Express (154 locations), Superbodega Acuenta (122 locations), and Central Mayorista (11 locations).[2][3]
Mexico
Walmart opened its first international store in Mexico in 1991.[33] As of October 31, 2022, Walmart’s Mexico division, the largest outside the U.S., consisted of 2,804 stores.[2][3] Walmart in Mexico operates Walmart Supercenter (300 locations), Sam’s Club (167 locations), Bodega Aurrera (571 locations), Mi Bodega Aurrera (438 locations), Bodega Aurrera Express (1,229 locations) and Walmart Express (99 locations).[3]
Canada
Walmart has operated in Canada since it acquired 122 stores comprising the Woolco division of Woolworth Canada, Inc on January 14, 1994.[244] As of October 31, 2022, it operates 402 locations (including 343 supercentres and 59 discount stores)[2][3] and, as of June 2015, it employs 89,358 people, with a local home office in Mississauga, Ontario.[245] Walmart Canada’s first three Supercentres (spelled in Canadian English) opened in November 2006 in Ancaster, London, and Stouffville, Ontario.[246] The 100th Canadian Supercentre opened in July 2010, in Victoria, British Columbia.
In 2010, approximately one year after its incorporation of Schedule 2 (foreign-owned, deposit-taking) of Canada’s Bank Act,[247] Walmart Canada Bank was introduced with the launch of the Walmart (Canada) Rewards MasterCard.[248] Less than ten years later, however, on May 17, 2018, Wal-Mart Canada announced it had reached a definitive agreement to sell Wal-Mart Canada Bank to First National co-founder Stephen Smith and private equity firm Centerbridge Partners, L.P., on undisclosed financial terms, though it added that it would still be issuer of the Walmart (Canada) Rewards MasterCard.[249]
On April 1, 2019, Centerbridge Partners, L.P. and Stephen Smith jointly announced the closing of the previously announced acquisition of Wal-Mart Canada Bank and that it was to be renamed Duo Bank of Canada, to be styled simply as Duo Bank.[250][251] Though exact ownership percentages were never revealed in either company announcement, it has also since been revealed that Duo Bank was reclassified as a Schedule 1 (domestic, deposit-taking)[252][253] federally chartered bank of the Bank Act in Canada from the Schedule 2 (foreign-owned or -controlled, deposit-taking)[253] that it had been, which indicates that Stephen Smith, as a noted Canadian businessman, is in a controlling position.
Africa
On September 28, 2010, Walmart announced it would buy Massmart Holdings Ltd. of Johannesburg, South Africa in a deal worth over US$4 billion giving the company its first footprint in Africa.[254] As of October 31, 2022, it has 411 stores, including 361 stores in South Africa (under the banners Game Foodco [78 locations], CBW [41 locations], Game [39 locations], Builders Express [50 locations], Builders Warehouse [34 locations], Cambridge [42 locations], Rhino [15 locations], Makro [23 locations], Builders Trade Depot [8 locations], Jumbo [13 locations], and Builders Superstore [18 locations]),[2][3] 11 stores in Botswana (under the banners CBW [7 locations], Game Foodco [2 locations], and Builders Warehouse [2 locations]),[2][3] 4 stores in Ghana (under the Game Foodco banner),[2][3] 4 stores in Kenya (under the banners Game Foodco [3 locations] and Builders Warehouse [1 location]),[2][3] 3 stores in Lesotho (under the banners CBW [2 locations] and Game Foodco [1 location]),[2] 2 stores in Malawi (under the Game banner),[2][3] 6 stores in Mozambique (under the banners Builders Warehouse [2 locations], Game Foodco [2 locations], CBW [1 location], and Builders Express [1 location]),[2][3] 5 stores in Namibia (under the banners Game Foodco [4 locations] and Game [1 location]),[2][3] 5 stores in Nigeria (under the banners Game [3 locations] and Game Foodco [2 location]),[2][3] 1 store in Swaziland (under the CBW banner),[2][3] 1 store in Tanzania (under the Game Foodco banner),[2][3] 1 store in Uganda (under the Game banner),[2][3] and 7 stores in Zambia (under the banners CBW [1 location], Game Foodco [3 locations], Builders Warehouse [2 locations], and Builders Express [1 location]).[2][3]
China
Walmart has joint ventures in China and several majority-owned subsidiaries. As of October 31, 2022, Walmart China (沃尔玛 Wò’ērmǎ)[255] operates 369 stores under the Walmart Supercenter (330 locations) and Sam’s Club (39 locations) banners.[2][3]
In February 2012, Walmart announced that the company raised its stake to 51 percent in Chinese online supermarket Yihaodian to tap rising consumer wealth and help the company offer more products. Walmart took full ownership in July 2015.[256]
In December 2021, the Chinese Communist Party’s Central Commission for Discipline Inspection warned Walmart about not stocking products made from inputs from Xinjiang in response to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act.[257]
India
In November 2006, the company announced a joint venture with Bharti Enterprises to operate in India. As foreign corporations were not allowed to enter the retail sector directly, Walmart operated through franchises and handled the wholesale end of the business.[258] The partnership involved two joint ventures—Bharti manages the front end, involving opening of retail outlets while Walmart takes care of the back end, such as cold chains and logistics. Walmart operates stores in India under the name Best Price Modern Wholesale.[259] The first store opened in Amritsar on May 30, 2009. On September 14, 2012, the Government of India approved 51 percent FDI in multi-brand retails, subject to approval by individual states, effective September 20, 2012.[260][261] Scott Price, Walmart’s president and CEO for Asia, told The Wall Street Journal that the company would be able to start opening Walmart stores in India within two years.[262] Expansion into India faced some significant problems. In November 2012, Walmart admitted to spending US$25 million lobbying the Indian National Congress;[263] lobbying is conventionally considered bribery in India.[264] Walmart is conducting an internal investigation into potential violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.[265] Bharti Walmart suspended a number of employees, rumored to include its CFO and legal team, to ensure “a complete and thorough investigation”.[266] In October 2013, Bharti and Walmart separated to pursue business independently.[267]
On May 9, 2018, Walmart announced its intent to acquire a 77% majority stake in the Indian e-commerce company Flipkart for $16 billion, in a deal that was completed on August 18, 2018.[268][269][270] As of October 31, 2022, there are 28 Best Price Modern Wholesale locations.[2][3]